Scripting your Font Editor with Python

Being in control of your tools is vital, especially in a specialized field like typeface design. Learn how to make your font editor do the things you need it to do in the way you need them done, through scripting. Learn how to use coding not just to make repetitive tasks easier, but also to create things that are out of reach of more conventional tools.

In this two day workshop you’ll learn the basics of programming in Python and you will learn how to script RoboFont to make it do amazing things. On the first day we will go through the basics of Python to get you up to speed, doing simple exercises. On the second day we will dive deeper into RoboFont, going through the more advanced scripting possibilities.

Required Materials

You will need a MacBook running OSX 10.9 or up, and a recent copy of RoboFont. Upon request, a temporary RoboFont trial license can be provided for the duration of the workshop.

No prior programming experience is required.

Instructor:
Just van Rossum

Just van Rossum graduated in 1989 at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague, where he studied with Gerrit Noordzij. After stints at Monotype in the UK and MetaDesign in Berlin he became an independent type designer, focussing on software design for type. His collaborations with Erik van Blokland under the name LettError became well known and their FF Beowolf typeface has been included in the permanent collection of the MoMa in New York. His FF Lefthand typeface is as ubiquitous now as it was when it came out in 1991. He co-wrote RoboFog with Petr van Blokland in the mid-ninetees, which can be seen as a prerunner of RoboFont, and has been a very influential type design tool due to its groundbreaking scriptability with the Python programming language. His TTX/FontTools library is a crucial building block for lots of font software. He also wrote the original version of the DrawBot application. Lately, his “Daily DrawBot” project drew some attention with its mesmerizing animated gifs.

Just teaches type design and programming at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KABK) in The Hague, both in the regular graphic design course as well as in the Type & Media master program.